Budget in better shape, but tough choices ahead

Fallout from last year’s budget nightmare will carry over into this year’s 2004 Colorado legislative session with the possible introduction of bills to fix some of the problems caused by TABOR, Amendment 23 and the Gallagher Amendment.

The state is better off this year, and likely won’t have the drastic cuts of

“We’re probably looking at a relatively flat budget,” Owen said. “That means we may be able to cover some of the gaps that we previously did not cover. But does that mean we can get

all excited and go on a spending spree? No.”

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Any increases to the budget will go into programs such as K-12 education, Medicaid, courts and prisons, he said.

Whether more cuts will have to be made to some of the states’ ailing programs depends on which revenue projections the Joint Budget Committee chooses to accept.

The governor’s office recently reported that revenues were looking better than previously reported.

As of late December, the projections were about $30 million ahead of September forecasts, said Henry Sobanet, deputy director of the office of state planning and budgeting.

“We’re very happy to see the stabilization of revenues and the improvement in the economy,” he said.

However, when legislative council economists ran the same numbers, they found that September’s projections were dead on, Owen said.

The Joint Budget Committee has to decide which projections they will use to base this year’s budget on.

“I assume that we will follow our revenue projections, but the problem is we’ll have to cut the budget,” Owen said. “If we follow the governor’s projections we won’t have to cut as much or not at all.”

If the legislative revenue predictions are used, the committee would have to cut about $60 million from programs, which would not be an easy task, Owen said.

Improvement in the national economy could help the picture in Colorado.

However, relief from budget problems could be slower to hit the state, some legislators say, because of TABOR, the Gallagher Amendment and Amendment 23.

Problems with those constitutional amendments could cause several entities to craft legislation that would try to correct the situation.

Any legislation would need a two-thirds majority vote in the legislature before it could even get on the ballot for voters. That may be hard to do in an election year.

Even if something does get on the ballot, legislators fear with the confusing nature of TABOR and the amendments, the language may be too difficult for citizens to understand.

“We have to keep it simple, but the fix is complicated,” Owen said. “The normal reaction with a citizen, if they don’t understand it, they vote no.”